SAN SALVADOR - A former mayor campaigning
on an anti-corruption ticket swept to victory in El Salvador's
presidential election on Sunday, bringing an end to a two-party
system that has held sway over the violence-plagued Central
American country for three decades.
Nayib Bukele, the 37-year-old former mayor of the capital,
San Salvador, won 54% of votes with returns counted from
88% of polling stations, said Julio Olivo, the head of
the electoral tribunal.
Bukele won more votes than all other candidates combined in
his first-round sweep, highlighting deep voter frustration over
the failure of the two main parties to tackle violence and
corruption.
"This day is historic for our country. This day El Salvador
destroyed the two-party system," Bukele told hundreds of
Salvadorans who danced, waved flags and blew whistles in a San
Salvador plaza that Bukele revitalized when he was mayor from
2015 to 2018.
His two rivals from the mainstream political parties
conceded defeat.
Bukele must now contend with U.S. President Donald Trump's
frequent threats to cut aid to El Salvador - as well as
neighbouring Guatemala and Honduras - if they do not do more to
curb migration to the United States.
At home, supporters hope that a third-party politician will
usher in changes to improve a sluggish economy and widespread
poverty.
"Let's see if he can do what he's promised for us," said a
jubilant supporter, Baltazar Sanchez, 30, at Bukele's victory
speech.
"After 30 years of two parties, we've been dealt the best
hand."
'WE DID IT'
Gang violence has made tiny El Salvador one of the world's
most murderous countries in the past few years, driving
Salvadorans to flee to the north.
Among his campaign promises, Bukele, an avid social media
user who snapped a selfie with supporters before declaring his
win, said he would push infrastructure projects to limit such
migration.
Since the end of its civil war in 1992, El Salvador has been
governed by the ruling leftist Farabundo Marti National
Liberation Front (FMLN) and its rival, conservative Nationalist
Republican Alliance (ARENA).
Though he describes himself as from the left and was
expelled from the FMLN, Bukele has formed a coalition including
a right-wing party that together has just 11 seats in the
legislature, which consists of 84 people.
Outside the hotel in San Salvador where Bukele waited for
the results, a group of supporters set off fireworks, beat drums
and danced as early figures came in.
"Yes, we did it! Yes, we did it!" they chanted.
FMLN candidate Hugo Martinez conceded defeat shortly after
Bukele's victory speech while ARENA candidate Carlos Calleja
said he recognised the election results and would call Bukele to
offer congratulations.
Definitive results would be announced within two days, Olivo
said.
'CORRUPT CAN'T HIDE'
Along with the goal of modernising government, Bukele, who
is set to take office in June, has proposed creating an
international anti-corruption commission with the support of the
United Nations, following similar committees in Guatemala and
Honduras.
"We'll create a (commission) ... so that the corrupt can't
hide where they always hide, instead they'll have to give back
what they stole," Bukele said in January.
Growing up, Bukele's relatively wealthy family was
sympathetic to the FMLN, the former leftist guerrilla army that
became a political party at the end of the civil war.
But Bukele has turned away from Latin America's traditional
left, branding Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro and Nicaragua's
Daniel Ortega as well as conservative Honduran Juan Orlando
Hernandez as dictators.
"A dictator is a dictator, on the 'right' or the 'left',"
Bukele wrote last week on Twitter.